


Mail-order Bride

by eilu



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Gen, M/M, Post-Canon, Tain is evil
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-26
Updated: 2017-10-26
Packaged: 2019-01-23 12:15:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12507184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eilu/pseuds/eilu
Summary: Julian helps Garak deal with their new discovery about Mila and Tain's relationship





	Mail-order Bride

**Author's Note:**

> Not my usual happy-fluffy stuff, but I wanted to explore the origins of Mila and Tain's relationship.
> 
> Kardassi from tinsnip & vyc's Cardassian dictionary

"Garak" Julian whispered, gingerly putting his hand on his partner's shoulder. The Cardassian had become morosely quiet since he sat down to start reading the letter hidden in a box they'd found buried in the corner of Tolan's shed. It had been well concealed; he doubts they would have found it if they weren't currently tearing sections of the floor apart to resurface the whole thing.

"It all makes sense," Garak said with a sad sigh, finally turning to face the doctor. "I shouldn't be surprised, but it's…" he looked away again with another sigh. He was clearly struggling to put his feelings into words.

"You know I'm here for you, Elim." Julian said, sitting beside his partner and putting his arm around him. Garak leaned a little into him, seeking his warmth. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Just give me a little time, dear. I… I need to sort through things first." the Cardassian murmured, looking at the letter in his hand as though it weighed a ton. He hadn't even gone halfway through the first page when his partner found him in this state.

"Take all the time you need, love" Julian murmured, pulling Garak into a hug.

\---

"I'm ready to talk." Garak suddenly announced as he walked from the cooking unit in the corner to their general living area. He set down a pot of tea and two mugs on their rickety table before pulling up the other chair and sitting down beside Julian.

"Oh?" the doctor replied with a raised eyebrow, setting aside the journal he'd been reading. He was glad to hear it. For the past few days Elim was mostly withdrawn whenever he was home, staring into space or muttering softly in Kardassi. He'd put the letter aside to continue reading it at a later time, but clearly what he had read was already weighing heavily on his mind.

"Those papers… Tolan hid them for a good reason. They're about Mila and Tain. Tolan wrote about… about the nature of their relationship." Garak hesitantly began, pouring out the tea to give his hands something to do. "He wanted me to know, but couldn't find a way to tell me, not with Tain around." Julian immediately sat up, leaning forward with his elbows on the table. He always wondered about the relationship between Elim's parents. It couldn't have been a healthy one, given what he knew of Tain. Garak took a deep breath to steady himself. Clearly whatever it was Tolan had divulged, it was affecting him.

"I just found out that Mila is… that she was… _yus'vi tuvUr_ " Garak finally said, visibly wincing at the final words.

"I'm not familiar with that term, dear" he replied over his tea.

"In Standard, it's roughly equivalent to a mail-order bride."

"WHAT?!" Julian exclaimed, sputtering into his mug. He wouldn't put such an action past Tain, but it was shocking nonetheless.

"You know how important families are here in Cardassia; in the olden days, men or women who couldn't find a suitable mate would often make use of to a service that… _procured_  a spouse." Garak paused to take a sip from his mug. "It was generally frowned upon, then finally made illegal because such enjoinings were often ill-matched and fraught with abuse; but the practice just continued underground. Cracking down wasn't a big priority of the government, except in the most egregious of cases." he continued with a shrug.

 _And of course Tain would have considered himself above the law anyway,_  Julian silently added, not wanting to interrupt.

"As _yus'vi tuvUr_  Mila had a… different status from other spouses. Theoretically they were husband and wife, it was supposed to work like any ordinary enjoining. However, in practice she would have been made to carry out all the duties of a wife, but without enjoying the same rights a 'real' wife would have had. That… arrangement is what most likely appealed to Tain. Tolan adds they were originally from Ur'dan-ji in Cardassia IV. It's one of the poorer villages there. She was barely out of adolescence when… it happened. He doesn't elaborate how. Maybe she never told him."

A sympathetic nod from Julian, who was still feeling dumbstruck by the whole thing. It looked like a classic case of human– well, Cardassian– trafficking: targetting young, vulnerable people from poor, faraway places, luring them with money or promises, then leaving them trapped in terrible situations.

"As I said the other day, I shouldn't be surprised, given the way he treated her, the way she acted around him. It's like finding the last piece to a very disturbing puzzle." Garak sadly added, stopping to take more tea in an attempt to calm his nerves.

"Oh Elim." Julia finally whispered when his partner didn't continue. He set his mug down and put his hands around Garak's, not really knowing what else to say or do. For some time they quietly sat over their tea, mulling over the shadows of the past.

\---

"For years, he kept her from contacting family and friends. Didn't let her subspace or even write to anyone." Garak abruptly said midway through breakfast. Julian didn't need to be told who the topic of conversation was. Since yesterday, Garak would just suddenly start discussing Tain and Mila as he struggled to read through the letter and come to terms with what he'd found out.

"And although Tolan and the rest of her family worried about her: where she'd gone, what had happened, they had hardly any resources to spare. There was no way they could go looking for her after she left their village. By not letting her communicate with them he had totally cut her off from everyone she knew."

"Even when I was growing up, it was like that. I remember he wouldn't let her leave the house unaccompanied unless it was for business, and even then he'd repeatedly warn her 'not to waste time socializing, or else.' When I joined the Order I found out he would routinely put her under surveillance, have the younger agents stalk her as she went about her day as 'practice,' or even just order them to drop by Tolan's shed at various times and make themselves known. I always thought it was just his paranoia, or him being his usual domineering self, I never realized it went much deeper."

Julian nibbled his toast. Cutting her off from her support system, isolating her from society, along with Garak's earlier mentions of psychological and emotional manipulation; no wonder Mila had become so loyal to Tain. He destroyed her world and left her with nothing to lean on but himself; it was the only thing she could do to survive.

"It's almost like she was his prototype, like he tested all his controlling and molding methods on her before applying them to me. Except for the closet part, she wouldn't have fit." Garak observed with a dark chuckle.

"At least… at least you both had Tolan…" Julian ventured, not really sure what else he could say.

"Yes. Well, it was Mila who somehow convinced Tain to send for him when she fell pregnant. Maybe the thought of her carrying _his_  offspring made him soften a little, if only temporarily. She was the one who came up with the idea of having him pretend to be my father when Tain decided he needed to hide my paternity. And I guess she didn't want to be so lonely anymore, and that maybe she'd hoped Tolan's presence would be able to protect me somewhat from Tain."

Another sympathetic nod from Julian. He silently thanked the universe for Tolan; the man was a saint. Elim would have so many more problems if he hadn't been there for him during his childhood.

"I remember Tain held it over Mila's head so often, him letting Tolan come. As if it had been some big favor on his part, as if that somehow made up for everything he'd done and continued to do. I guess in Tain's mind it did." Garak took a bite of his fried regova eggs and resumed eating in silence. He didn't want to talk about it anymore, at least for today.

\---

It was a quiet moment at the hospital and Julian mulled over Garak's discovery, turning them over in his mind. He had a passing familiarity with the manipulation and skewed power dynamic– it somewhat mirrored his parents' relationship– although Tain was infinitely worse than his own father. And Mila– what had she suffered, what had Tain put her through? Did he beat her? Verbally abuse her? Certainly he threatened her, intimidated her into complying to his wishes. Tolan's notes were scant on the details, probably because they had been written in secret. Or perhaps Mila didn't– or couldn't– tell her brother everything. Rubbing his hands over his face, he let out a long sigh.

Garak had been emotionally and physically drained talking about it, almost like he was actually reliving part of his mother's experience. In some way perhaps he was; the Cardassian psyche was a complicated thing. Bashir wondered what he could do to help. He'd always support his partner, no matter what Garak was dealing with, but how would they deal with knowing Elim's mother was a victim of trafficking? It's not like they could do anything direct about it now: Mila, Tain, Tolan– everyone they knew who was directly or indirectly involved with the situation was dead. But perhaps he could…? Julian pushed the idea away with a shake of his head. He'd have to let Elim take the lead on this one, let him deal with things on his own terms.

\---

"You seem to be a bit better today." Julian observed. Garak was… well, not back to normal, but definitely not as upset as he'd been all week.

"I just made it to the end of Tolan's letter."

"And?"

"Tolan said I was a great comfort to Mila, that my birth was the happiest moment of her life."

Julian gave Garak a hug.

"But now that I think about it, I have to I wonder if was she _really_  happy that I was around? Maybe if I wasn't she could have found a way to leave Tain." he continued, tensing in Bashir's arms and visibly becoming upset again.

"Garak… no, no, no. Don't think that… please," Julian pulled away to stroke his partner's cheek and look straight into his eyes. "Your mother loved you. Never, ever doubt that." Julian put his hands on Garak's shoulders and rubbed circles into them until he felt him begin to relax again.

"Tain casts a very, very long shadow." the Cardassian finally murmured with a shake of his head as he pulled the doctor into a tight embrace.

\---

Garak rose from bed, untangling himself from Julian's arms. He'd been unable to sleep, the thoughts of his discovery still swirling in his head. Stepping outside their little house, he looked up into the night sky, mulling things over.

Earlier that night Julian had suggested Garak try to contact Mila's family in Cardassia IV. "You might still have aunts, uncles, or cousins." the doctor had said. Elim just shook his head; his lover was such an optimist. True, the distant colony had not been heavily hit during the war, but it was unlikely his kin, if any still existed, would be thrilled to meet a long-lost relative who happened to be an ex-Obsidian Order agent.

Still, he mused, maybe he _would_  look them up, someday, when he was ready. As he gazed at the stars, the knowledge that Mila's family might still be somewhere out there was oddly comforting. Maybe he'd even meet with them face-to-face, without telling them who he was, just to see what they were like.

Garak heard Julian's soft footfalls from behind. His partner was getting better, but was still far from being able to properly sneak up on him.

"Couldn't sleep?" Julian asked, although it was more of a statement than a question.

"I'll be fine dear, go back to bed."

"It's okay Garak, you don't have to go through this alone" the doctor whispered, putting his arms around the Cardassian's waist and planting a soft kiss on Garak's nape. Elim felt the warmth from Julian's bared torso seep through his robe and into his back, and he couldn't help but close his eyes and melt into the embrace. He pulled his partner's arms tighter around himself, holding the doctor's hands to his chest. Tain may cast a long shadow, but Julian had more than enough light to keep it at bay.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments welcome.  
> You can contact me via my tumblr (eilupt.tumblr.com).  
> I accept prompts/suggestions.


End file.
